Pentagon lawyer: US near "tipping point" in war against Al Qaeda

A top Pentagon lawyer has said that the US is approaching a time when military action against Al Qaeda may not be necessary.

This picture taken 26 December 2011 shows the Pentagon building in Washington, DC. It is the world's largest office building by floor area. Approximately 23,000 military and civilian employees and about 3,000 non-defense support personnel work in the Pentagon. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images)

The United States may be approaching a "tipping point" in its war with Al Qaeda, which could mean that its fight with the militant organization will no longer be regarded as a military conflict, a top Pentagon lawyer has said.

Speaking to the Oxford Union on Friday, Jeh Johnson said that the terrorist network was close to becoming "effectively destroyed" thus rendering it incapable of launching another wide scale attack on the United States, the Guardian reported.

"I do believe that on the present course there will come a tipping point, a tipping point at which so many of the leaders and operatives of al-Qaeda and its affiliates have been killed or captured, and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States, such that al-Qaeda as we know it, the organization that our Congress authorized the military to pursue in 2001, has been effectively destroyed," said Johnson who is slated to become the next US Attorney General.

Johnson's speech was part of the US administration's efforts to clarify its counter terror rules in order to legally justify its decisions on drone warfare conducted by the CIA, the Wall Street Journal reported.